Late on Saturday morning with a scoreboard being dominated by black and gold – which is not uncommon in Melbourne – there's one United States pairing who don't need any help. Tiger Woods is hanging with them. The earpiece is in, the message he's projecting is muffled.
His buddy Justin Thomas ("love me some me", he shouted at Woods after his winning putt the day before) and Rickie Fowler are cruising, their opponents Marc Leishman and the enigmatic Chinese Haotong Li about to wave the white flag – even if they wouldn't do so for an incensed Thomas as he weighed up a short birdie putt earlier in the day.
Behind them, one of Woods' captain's picks Patrick Reed is in a hole so deep he would need to be manicuring that Bahamas waste bunker for a week to burrow anything comparable. In the other two matches, the United States are behind.
For most of the session Woods has sped between the four matches in a cart, his assistants Steve Stricker, Fred Couples and Zach Johnson generally assigned a group to follow. But when the chips are down, the chief is cheerleading up front with a winning combo rather than rallying from behind.
It's a microcosm of what has been a year-long planning mission for Woods. It's unfair to judge Woods solely on a camera cut, but it's hard not to think the game's most celebrated player is still trying to make a hat he's never worn before fit.
Sunday will ultimately tell the Tiger tale, his side clawing into the International margin to trail 10-8 heading into Sunday's singles. This loaded US team – with every player ranked inside the world's top 23 (the International side only have two) – should not lose a Presidents Cup with a talent disparity like this, no matter where and when it's played.
As a player, Woods has been peerless.
Tiger Woods at Royal Melbourne.Credit: AAP
It was as if Royal Melbourne was made for his artistry, a course so far removed from the modern-day flail-and-flop American circuit. The sandbelt suits the game's great thinkers and tinkerers. For two days, Woods picked up his weary teammates and carried them on his fused back, for which every Australian fan should be thankful because it's meant we've had another chance to see Tiger at his pomp. He won both his matches with Thomas, whose only great contribution came with the match-winning putt on the final hole on Friday.
As a captain, Woods is open to interrogation.
The decision to bring his side to Melbourne only on Monday afternoon after 26 hours of travelling time on a private jet was folly. It allowed his entire team – bar the recuperating Dustin Johnson – to play in his own tournament, the Hero World Challenge, the week before. It started a day earlier than usual, but still left little time for his loaded side to shake the jet lag and scout one of the most difficult courses in the world.
On the other side, Adam Scott and CT Pan missed the cut at the Australian Open while the Hero was being played. Defending champion Abraham Ancer never got warm in Sydney. But at least they were in the country with an eye to the Presidents Cup – and the trio have been among Ernie Els' best this week.
Woods' picks as captain? Himself, a massive tick. Fowler (a late replacement for world No.1 Brooks Koepka), Tony Finau and Gary Woodland have been decent. Reed? The captain got it badly wrong with Captain America. He's 0-3 with Webb Simpson this week. It would have been dramatic, but Woods maybe should have had a quiet conversation with Reed and left him home after the Bahamas. Reed can't fly the country fast enough after his caddie was accused of physically confronting a fan on Saturday.
The Reed drama himself is something Woods, the first Presidents Cup playing captain in 25 years, has never had to deal with before, which is remarkable in itself. Even after everything he's done for the polarising former US Masters hero, Woods has never had to defend a fellow professional accused of cheating – at a tournament he put on and allowed him to play in no less – because he was on his team the next week. Behind closed doors, who knows what Woods thinks.
Controversially, Woods never hit a ball in anger on Saturday. When he read out the pairings at lunchtime for Saturday's afternoon foursomes matches – when the Americans finally woke from their week-long slumber – there were audible gasps in the media centre when he never put his own name forward. Across the partition, International captain Els couldn't hide his surprise.
The South African has provided the jolt for a concept which badly needed it by making his team competitive again. He demanded his players familiarise themselves with each other throughout the year, delved deep into data to find the right pairings, made his players get to Melbourne early and even created a new logo. He knew they needed help. The whole Presidents Cup needed help.
But has Tiger provided the right help to his team?